What is ERC-20?

ERC-20 is the token standard of Ethereum and every EVM chain: a common interface (transfer, balance, allowance) that makes every conforming token interchangeable with every wallet, DEX, and checkout in the ecosystem. It is why a token deployed today works with infrastructure written in 2016.

The standard covers fungible tokens only: one unit equals another. Shares, dollars, and loyalty points fit; art and deeds do not (those are ERC-721 and friends).

How ERC-20 works

ERC-20 is the token interface on Ethereum-family chains: a standard set of functions and events that every compliant token implements, so that wallets, pools, and protocols can hold and trade any of them without bespoke integration. Transfer, balance, approval: the verbs are fixed, and interoperability follows from that fixedness.

The mechanics worth knowing as a user are approvals. The standard separates holding from spending: a contract can only move your tokens to the extent you have approved it, and that approval is itself an on-chain action you sign. Scoping approvals, approving only what a trade needs rather than unlimited amounts, is the everyday hygiene the standard makes possible.

Variants exist for specialized needs, adding hooks for compliance or gas efficiency, and they trade a measure of universality for their features. The base standard's dominance is why the EVM world's token surface feels uniform: any wallet holds any token because every token agrees on the verbs. UCASH itself is an ERC-20 on its Ethereum deployments, as are the tokenized assets on EVM chains.

ERC-20 in practice

A wallet adds a new token by address alone: the standard guarantees the interface, so balances and transfers work on contact. A swap asks for approval scoped to the trade amount, executes, and the approval ceremony is the same for every ERC-20 ever deployed. The approval economy is also where caution lives: a wallet with standing unlimited approvals has pre-authorized every future contract interaction to draw at will, which is convenient and correspondingly broad. The revoke-and-rescope habit, periodic review of open approvals, is the standard's own recommended hygiene.

ERC-20 on U.CASH

Every EVM asset on U.CASH, from the tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain and Base to the dollar and euro stablecoins, moves as an ERC-20 token with its verified contract on its asset page.

For merchants, the standard is why accepting one more EVM token is a configuration choice rather than an integration project: checkout, settlement, and accounting all speak the interface already. U.CASH's EVM asset support rides on exactly this property.